


SPACE PIED PIPER

by william_m_buttlicker



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Danger, Intrigue, Love, Multi, Other, Space!, uh oh, xoxoxoxoxxoox
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22217779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/william_m_buttlicker/pseuds/william_m_buttlicker
Summary: Richard Hendrix, just your average employee atSpace Hooli,is more than surprised when Gavin Belson expresses interest in buying his code. Something doesn't seem right...? Strange things start happening but it couldn't be connected... could it....?Who knows...The only thing everybody knows for sure is that they need to find out somehow, and fast! Otherwise who knows what dangers will befall them.......!!?
Relationships: Erlich Bachmann/Dinesh Chugtai/Jared Dunn/Bertram Gilfoyle/Richard Hendricks/Nelson Bighetti
Kudos: 3





	SPACE PIED PIPER

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote like 22,000 words of this a long time ago and then just totally stopped writing it altogether so that much is already written and just needs to be edited a bit.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ _"Sometimes the true nature of reality beckons from just beyond the horizon.”_ ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*  
\- Brian Greene

Richard Hendrix was busy working in his cubicle when his space-watch beeped letting him know that he was being summoned to come upstairs and meet with his boss’s boss’s boss, Gavin Belson, the top CEO of the entirety of _Space Hooli;_ the largest space-tech company in the entire solar system. Richard was only a mere space-programmer so the fact that he was being called before Gavin himself was almost more confusing than concerning. If he was just being fired his regular boss could have done that, or even a space-memo.

As Richard made his way through the many winding hallways of Space Hooli’s main office ship he tried to hold his composure and tell himself that this must obviously be some sort of mistake, and that the system must have made an error, as there was surely no way someone as influential as Gavin Belson would have a reason to talk with him.

Unless…

As Richard stepped into the space-elevator he had a brief moment where he wondered to himself if this could possibly have anything to do with the space-app he was developing. He hadn’t directly shown it to anyone at Hooli but he had spent some time working on it during his breaks, and despite what company policy clearly stated Richard got the feeling that Hooli’s _respect and trust of employee confidentiality_ was as fake as the ‘realistic earth terrain’ in the break rooms.

That must be what this was about. He was about to be reprimanded for using company resources for personal use. He was going to get fired, or _sued!_

Richard could feel the beginnings of an anxiety attack coming on as the space-elevator rocketed it’s way up the three-hundred plus floors, although he of course couldn’t feel the sensation of moving he could clearly see the numbers ascending, and that did nothing to quiet his already racing heart.

The door opened and he was immediately met by a smiling but almost sad looking man in a pale beige dress shirt and an even paler face. He was so close to the space-elevator door when it opened Richard would have probably jumped back had his reflexes not already been dulled by excess current stress levels.

“You must be Richard Hendrix,” smiled the man. “Thank you for coming so promptly. This way please.” The man said all of this in a way that was so rehearsed and yet also so uncomfortably genuine that Richard felt almost sure he must be some new model of Hooli AI that was still in the preliminary stages.

Richard nodded and gave a slightly awkward thank you as he followed the man/possible robot.

The man/possible robot led Richard into a small conference room with four casually disinterested looking people that overlooked the southern California bay as a mid-day sun shower was taking place, (of course not really, they were orbiting miles above _MARS-XO4_ , a newly manufactured exa-planet a couple hundred-thousand miles short of the asteroid belt. But the scene was nice all the same).

“This is a rendering of the view out of the original Hooli building in Old San Francisco,” the man/AI smiled. “The graphics team here has worked very hard on it, and I must say it’s quite the final product. They have very much to be proud of.”

“It is beautiful,” Richard admitted, admiring an indistinguishably false butterfly that seemed to flutter effortlessly just beyond the forcefield glass.

“Would you like me to fetch you a beverage while you wait?” asked the man/ increasingly possible robot.

“Um, no thank you.” Richard tried to smile politely. For lack of anything else to say he asked, “Do you have any idea when Mr. Belson will be projecting in?”

“Projecting in?” the slightly less AI looking thing asked with a funny laugh.

At that moment the door opposite the one Richard had entered slid open and the very real figure of _actual Gavin Belson_ stepped into the room.

Right?

This wasn’t real surely. Gavin Belson would never go to the trouble of actually meeting physically face to face with a mere employee. Was this another robot? Was that why Richard was here? To see if the newest model could fool people in an actual field test?

“Richard Hendrix!” Gavin grinned, cocking an eyebrow at a man who was absolutely not Richard and held out his hand to shake. “Now this is your lucky day.”

The person/AI/?? gave him a subtle gesture that he had made a mistake, prompting Gavin to spin around and this time direct his full attention at actual Richard, which was difficult to bare.

“Just kidding you sport,” he clapped Richard on the shoulder, shaking him slightly, in a way that Richard found more dominating than encouraging. “But it is your lucky day.”

Richard wasn’t sure what to make of any of this, but thankfully didn’t seem to be expected to give any response other than a blank stare of confusion.

“Word around the office,” Gavin gave what Richard assumed was intended to be a playful wink, “is that you’ve been working on some sort of app that could do a lot of good for this company. What is it you’re calling it?”

“Oh!” Richard began, just registering that he had been asked a question. “It’s _Space Pied Piper._.. It analyzes the wave patterns in quasar reverberations and makes sure you’re not infringing anyone’s energy patent.” Richard still wasn’t quite sure he was getting in trouble or not.

“Well you don’t have to tell me how important that is,” Gavin looked up and smiled as if ruminating on some universal sense of moral justice. “And that’s why I want to buy it from you.”

Richard blinked.

“I’m sorry what?” he shook his head as if he had not heard.

“You see,” Gavin continued, “we here at Space Hooli are committed to the highest level of ethical back checking when it comes to our product and whatever we can do to maintain that high standard deserves the very highest priority.”

“I’m sorry,” Richard continued when he was sure Gavin was done. “ _You_ want to buy my app?”

Something about this seemed off.

“Of course.” Gavin smiled, almost laughing. “How does ten-billion sound? I won’t go a dollar over fifteen.”

“Wai- wa- fifteen, billion?” Richard felt he was perhaps about to vomit, possibly.

“And I’m serious,” Gavin smiled, gesturing his hands in a dismissive motion. “Not a space-penny more. So what do you say? Get yourself a place on the real earth, not this computer rendered shit. Let me tell you, nothing compares to the real thing. You’re gonna have it all; sun, sand, and you’ll be helping make the galaxy a better place!”

Richard still wasn’t speaking.

“Would you like the fifteen million in Hooli-coin or would you like it in inter-planetary currency? Take some of the hassle out of travel planning.”

Richard realized he should probably speak.

“I,” he began, and then all at once realized that if he did not leave where he was this very instant he was going to be projectile’y sick on one of the richest, and not famously compassionate, men in the galaxy. “I have to, um, go to the bathroom. Is that, um, okay?” Richard was honestly too focused on getting the heck out of there before things got a lot worse to even be substantially concerned that he had just asked a grown man and powerful CEO if he could use the bathroom.

“Fair enough,” Gavin just shrugged, seemingly unfazed. As well as probably too politely than his reputation may suggest. “There’s one through that door to the left. Take a moment to think it over. I’ll be in my office once you have decided.”

Richard barely registered Gavin giving him a smile as Richard practically tore from the room, but as Richard vomited (so thankfully into a toilet) he couldn’t shake from his mind the idea that he had seen something there in Gavin’s smile that looked not only dishonest, but like he liked watching Richard squirm.

Richard had barely finished recovering from the unfortunate side effect of his anxiety when a slightly automated voice started speaking his name from directly behind him making Richard leap up into the three-dimensionally lit space of a hologram.

“Richard Hendrix,” the voice repeated, now from all around Richard.

The hologram vanished momentarily, making the waving bars of yellow and green light disappear from Richards vision, only for the hologram to pop up a second later, now directly in front of Richard, now looking more like a normal hologram, translucent and glowing; and in this case also entirely recognizable.

“I am Peter Gregory,” the hologram told Richard, although of course Richard knew. Peter Gregory was one of the only men in the galaxy who could be said to be in any real financial completion with Gavin Belson. Despite Hooli’s fairy substantial efforts in the world of AI none of their products even came close to the level set by Peter’s company Space Robot Inc. Richard was barely able to keep up with this fact alone before the hologram continued speaking.

“I have been made aware that Gavin Belson has offered you a large sum of money in exchange for the proprietary software of your application. I have come here to tell you that you must refuse.”

At this Richard was suddenly pulled back to reality.

“Wait,” he sputtered, blinking at Peter Gregory’s hologram. “What, why?”

“I see you are not aware you are being played a fool,” the hologram spoke with an almost robotic monotony. “Tell me, what is it you think your app does?”

Richard was suddenly more confused by this than he had been for any other event that had happened that day.

“I, it measures quasar reverberations to make sure-,”

“No one is infringing on anyone’s energy patent,” Peter’s hologram cut Richard off. “That is incorrect, at least as far as Hooli is concerned.”

There was a light knock at the door.

“I must go,” Peter’s hologram spoke suddenly. “I will contact you and explain later, but for now it is crucial you do not accept his offer. Make any excuse you must, but you simply can not agree.”

With that Peter’s hologram vanished and Richard was left alone in the washroom, more confused than he was before.

The knock at the door had been Jared (the robot?), who’d come to check on him and make sure he was okay. Richard assured him he was fine and insisted he did not need anything but accepted Jared’s sympathetic gaze as he led Richard back down the hall and into another conference room, this time with no special simulated view, to await the return of Gavin Belson.

“I understand this must all be coming as quite a shock to you,” Jared began, pulling out his phone and materializing a small single seat sofa chair for Richard to sit in. “And it may take a while for it all to set in. But I’m sure very quickly this will pass and you will be fully able to enjoy all the wonders this choice will gift to you.”

Richard smiled weakly at Jared, somehow feeling great sympathy.

“Have you ever been to Earth?” Richard asked. He had been a few times on vacation when he was younger, but not everyone had.

“Oh yes,” Jared smiled politely. Gavin spends most of his time at the office there, and he does need an assistant after all.”

“That must be nice,” Richard smiled as best he could at Jared, almost beginning to feel normal. “Being able to have real weather and all.”

“True. As long as no one forgets you’re locked outside in a thunderstorm.”

Richard couldn’t tell if Jared was trying to make a joke but he did not have time to respond because Gavin was already barging back into the room, this time a little less enthusiastically than before. Richard stood as he entered.

“So,” he still smiled pleasantly at Richard. “Have you decided which erecto-planet you’re going to visit first?”

Richard took a deep breath.

“Um,” his mind was somehow already made up. “I think I’d like to take the night to sleep on it, if that’s okay.”

Richard saw Jared flinch.

“Are you joking?” Gavin suddenly did not look quite so pleasant.

“It’s just such a big decision,” Richard began, feeling very small. “I mean, I’ve been working on this for so long, you must understand.”

“Understand what,” Gavin was beginning to look angry. “That even if you tinker with your pet project for the next eight years you’re still too stupid to see that your shitty app is never going to be worth even close to what I’m offering you now. I’m doing you a real favour here Richard. Other people, at this company, are going to make up the exact code you have and then yours is going to be completely useless and you will get absolutely nothing for it. Don’t mess this up.”

“I understand,” Richard began. “But if I could just think this over-.”

“No,” Gavin almost cut him off. “That’s not how business is done Hendrix. You either take what I’m offering now, or you walk.”

Despite everything that had happened that day Richard did not need to hesitate.

“Well, maybe you’re right, but all the same, I don’t think I can accept your offer. I’m sorry.” Richard was sure he sounded like he had some conviction, but he wasn’t so sure he actually did.

Gavin shook his head as he continued to stare Richard down.

“I would pity you,” he began, “If you weren’t so pathetic.”

With that he turned to leave.

“Jared, come. Mr. Hendrix can let himself out.”

Jared gave Richard a look Richard couldn’t quite place and then followed Gavin out of the room, leaving Richard alone as the small sofa chair began to beep in warning that it was about to de-materialize.

.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading me rad lads!!
> 
> ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*


End file.
